The manufacture of textiles dates back many thousands of years, where a textile is generally understood to be any material made of interlacing fibers, and more specifically comprises fabric material made through weaving, knitting, crocheting, or bonding. The manufacture of textiles into a cloth—a finished piece of fabric that can be used for a purpose—has evolved significantly over time, and is reflected in the prior art, particularly with respect to garments intended to serve as apparel.
The production of apparel had been performed manually in clothing companies, until an Englishman, Thomas Saint, developed a machine to stitch together leather or canvas materials, for which he was granted a patent. Improvements were made, and eventually, in 1846, Elias Howe was granted the first American patent for a sewing machine—U.S. Pat. No. 4,750. Although the name Singer has for a long time been synonymous with sewing machines in the U.S., Isaac Merritt Singer actually received U.S. Pat. No. 8,294 in 1851 for improvement made to the then existing prior art. After a subsequent suit between Howe and Singer was decided in Howe's favor Law suit, Singer was granted licenses to manufacture sewing machines. Methods and apparatus further directed at producing apparel and distinct portions thereof have since proliferated. Perhaps one of the most famous articles of manufacture in the form of apparel being U.S. Pat. No. 139,121 to Jacob Davis and Levi Straus for “Fastening Pocket-Openings,” which led to Levi blue jeans.
Another example is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,514 to Palmieri for “Beltless Slacks.” Palmieri offers a novel means of support which provides the slacks with “a distinctive and attractive appearance.” The means of support did not rely on belts or elastic bands, but rather on an inner flap that is tapered from a long vertical side to a short vertical side. Another similar invention is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,913 to Garin for “Extensible Maternity Slacks,” wherein a front flap is adapted to be joined at the edge of a rear flap using a button-hole co-operating with a plurality of buttons.
Improvements more particularly directed to the bottoms of the slacks, which are also referred to as pants, or more commonly in the United Kingdom as trousers, and in many Spanish speaking neighborhoods and countries as Pantaloons, include U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,654 to March, for “Riding Pants.” The March cold-weather riding pants include a “biaxially stretchable elastic fabric along the outside or outer seam of each leg” and additionally, for each lower leg pant or end, “an adjustable stirrup adapted to pass under the arch of the riding boot to maintain the leg pant in proper relation to the riding boot.” The March pants provide the necessary warmth, but in addition, satisfy the form-fitting requirements while maintaining freedom of movement, and also serve in “securing the lower pants leg in proper relationship to the riding boot.” The use of stirrups in maintaining proper form and/or location of the pant bottom has been used in combination in other inventions, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,726 to Ross for “Sport Pants with Protective Pads,” and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,254 to Dicker for “Restive Exercise Pants and Hand Stirrups.”
An 1880 invention dedicated to protecting pant bottoms from excessive wear due to contact with the ground is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 229,031 to Campbell for a “Pantaloons Protector.” The Campbell device consisted of a wire or thin piece of metal being formed into a double safety-pin arrangement for attachment of a portion therein to the back bottom of the slacks, with a pair of bends being below the hem to prevent any portion of the pant bottom from coming into contact with the ground.
Another approach for pant bottom protection was disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 668,051 to Puffer for a “Trouser Protector.” The Puffer trouser protector consisted of a single piece of flexible sheet metal formed into a series of curves, where one end is relatively straight for being inserted into, and retained by, a user's shoe, and having contact therein with the back of the user's foot. The other end had an upward loop that was used for clamping onto the bottom of the trousers.
U.S. Pat. No. 927,017 to Young disclosed a “Boot and Shoe” in which an upward facing tongue was incorporated into the rearward portion of the footwear at a position above the heel. The tongue would similarly serve to trap the slacks against the back part of the shoe to prevent slack bottoms from contacting the ground.
A more recent, but similar device was disclosed in 2003 in U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,862 to Bunjes for a “Pants Hem Guard.” The Bunjes invention comprises a U-shaped inner portion for insertion into the back of a shoe, and also has a U-shaped outer portion with a clip insert attached thereto at its center, and at a height adjacent to the heel of the shoe. The pants hem would be tucked into the clip insert.
A slightly different approach is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,043 to Sood for a “Hem Holding Device.” The Sood device is for temporarily raising the hem of the slacks, and essentially comprises an alligator clip that includes a piercing pin, to retain the excess pant bottom between the clip arms, with the pin piercing the cloth and also maintaining separation between the arms of the clip.
A different approach is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 7,404,215 to Allen for a “Detachable Protective Cuff Guard for Pants.” The cuff guard comprises a durable material that incorporates magnetic fasteners along one edge, and corresponding magnetic fasteners along a respective opposite edge. The cuff guard is folded approximately midway between the two opposing edges, and about the bottom portion of the back side of the pants. The magnetic fasteners along the respective edges then serve to releasably secure the cuff protector to the slack bottoms to thereby protect the slacks from wear.
The invention disclosed herein serves the same function but eliminates the addition of parts and unsightly appearance to the slacks. The invention creates a process to tailor the bottoms of slacks according to a mathematical definition, to create a library of pre-designed, but nonetheless, modifiable pant bottom contours that follow specified edge trims.